12th December: Yule Lads (Icelandic Christmas trolls)

Yule lads, or trolls, originate in Icelandic folklore. While legends abound about them, the official number is thirteen, and they come to town, one per day, between today and Christmas Eve.

1. The canonical thirteen were established by a 1932 poem, Christmas Arrives by Icelandic poet Jóhannes úr Kötlum.
2. They are the sons of the mountain-dwelling trolls Grýla and Leppalúði.
3. In some of the older legends, they were cannibals who ate children. Now they are seen as relatively harmless tricksters. In some stories, Grýla would accompany them - she would be looking for naughty children to boil in her cauldron while her sons got up to mischief.
4. If she captured a naughty child, she would have to let him or her go if they repented of their naughtiness.
5. They have a cat - the Yule Cat, which according to folklore, would eat any children who did not have new clothes to wear at Christmas.
6. In modern times, they are depicted as wearing Santa costumes and giving gifts.
7. Children leave their shoes on the window sills for the next thirteen nights, and that night's Yuletide lad will leave a small gift in their shoe - or, if they have been naughty, a rotting Potato.
8. Each Yule lad stays in town for thirteen days - hence Sheep-Cote Clod, a peg-legged troll who harrasses sheep, arrives today and leaves on Christmas Day, and the final visitor, Candle-Stealer (who steals candles) arrives on Christmas Eve and stays until January 6.
9. The other eleven are: Gully Gawk (Hides in gullies, waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the cowshed and steal Milk); Stubby (Abnormally short. Steals pans to eat the crust left on them); Spoon-Licker (Steals wooden spoons to lick. Is extremely thin due to malnutrition); Pot-Scraper (Steals leftovers from pots); Bowl-Licker (Hides under the bed waiting for someone to put down their bowl so he can steal it); Door-Slammer (Likes to slam doors, especially during the night); Skyr-Gobbler (Has a particular liking for skyr, a type of Icelandic yoghurt); Sausage-Swiper (Hides in the rafters and snatches sausages while they are being smoked); Window-Peeper (A voyeur who would look through windows in search of things to steal); Doorway-Sniffer (Has an abnormally large nose and an acute sense of smell which he uses to locate bread); and Meat-Hook (Uses a hook to steal meat).
10. One reason why the Yule lads have grown more and more benign over the years may be due to the fact that in 1746, a decree was issued banning parents from using tales of trolls, ogres and the like to frighten their children.

My Christmas Novella!

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

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